Excellent new books for SQL Server professionals

Hello from Vancouver, BC! I'm enjoying the proceedings at the annual DevTeach conference and looking forward to some great sessions today.

I was recently given the privilege to tech review a new book put out by Manning Publications, written by Rod Colledge, called SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action. I liked the book so much that I was thrilled to be given the chance to write the forward for the book. Let me assure you that this admin book is unlike any other admin book for SQL Server that you might normally reach for. Unlike other reference books, this one provides a sort of very conversational set of best practices and collected wisdom, much like you might get if you were able to yell a question over the cube wall to a much more experienced DBA/mentor. The book itself is not free, but several of the chapters are free. I believe the book is absolutely worth the money. But at a minimum, grab the free chapters.

Another free SQL resource you might want to consider is the new 485-page e-book written by Jacob Sebastian called SQL Server XML Schema Collections. It explains XSD and XML schema collections in great detail, something that has always mystified me. Take some time to pull this one down and add it to your library.